Sam Askew, Campus Carrier managing editor
For many Berry students, coffee is an essential part of their daily lives, and everyone has their own preferences for how they drink their coffee. Java City and the Bean’ry offer plenty of options for coffee drinkers on campus, including lattes, americanos, cappuccinos and frappuccinos. However, many people miss the obvious best choice: black coffee. I know that may seem like a sort of coffee-snob answer, but it is the truth.
According to WebMD, drinking black coffee brings increased resistance to Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, cancer and cirrhosis. Drinking just three cups of black coffee a day improves your heart health and helps to improve your mood. It also has shown in studies to be helpful in diabetes management and weight management.
Additionally, there are various digestive benefits that come from black coffee. When you add sugar and cream to your coffee, or get a specialty coffee with sugar in it, you get more calories per cup. With black coffee, there are just a whopping two calories per an eight-ounce cup.
Personally, I just feel better when I drink only black coffee and water during the day. It brings a peace of mind that only comes from not introducing various sugars and fats that may come from drinking coffee with cream and sugar.
What many people do not realize is that getting started drinking black coffee will be hard. Ask almost any coffee drinker and they will tell you that black coffee does not taste very good.
However, what happens as you develop a habit and drink it every day, your taste buds adjust, and it actually becomes sweet as you taste the notes that are embedded in the beans.
I have been drinking black coffee since middle school and when people ask me what it tastes like, I tell them that it tastes like a piece of expensive dark chocolate. You develop a taste for it as you make yourself endure it. Once you get over the initial hurdle of drinking this black, bitter liquid, it is extremely worth it.
One final benefit of drinking black coffee is the speed in which it can be obtained. When I go to a coffee shop, all I have to do is say “Can I get a black coffee?” and the barista pours it up right then and there. I do not even have to wait on it for longer than one minute.
When you order a latte or another specialty coffee, you must wait for them to grind the espresso beans, pull the shot, froth the milk, pour it together and put a top on it. On average, you are waiting at least a good five to ten minutes for your coffee. If there is a line, then you will wait even longer.
The thing with black coffee is that usually the barista can pour it and get it to you before you are even done swiping your card or getting cash out of your wallet.
Also, while someone who gets coffee and puts cream and sugar in their coffee, they must go and doctor their coffee up, which takes even more time. You also run the risk of not getting it right.
If you get coffee with cream and sugar, then get in your car and drive away, take a sip, and realize that you did not put enough cream or enough sugar, you are out of luck because you have already left the coffee shop.
The advantage of black coffee is that you do not have to doctor it up. You take it like it is. Now, there are some black coffees that you may not like the taste of by themselves, but chances are you, as a black coffee enjoyer, have scoped out the various coffee shops and know which coffee shop has the black coffee of your preference.
All in all, the benefits of black coffee far outweigh the cons. In fact, there is only one con: it tastes bad at first. To me, that is not a real con. People that refuse to drink black coffee do not know what they’re missing and the beautiful simplicity that it brings to one’s coffee life.